Jacob’s Ladder 1990 premiere

1. Tim Robbins

Born in West Covina, California, but raised in New York City, Tim Robbins is the son of former The Highwaymen singer Gil Robbins and actress Mary Robbins (née Bledsoe). Robbins studied drama at UCLA, where he graduated with honors in 1981. That same year, he formed the Actors' Gang theater group, ...

2. Ellen Barkin

Actress | The Fan

Offbeat, unconventionally pretty, and utterly mesmerizing, Ellen Barkin was born on April 16, 1954 in the Bronx, New York, to Evelyn (Rozin), a hospital administrator, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman. Her parents were both from Russian Jewish families. Raised in the South Bronx and Queens, New ...

3. Gabriel Byrne

Actor | The Usual Suspects

Byrne was the eldest of six children born to a family in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a cooper and his mother a hospital worker. He was raised Catholic and educated by the Irish Christian Brothers. He spent five years of his childhood in a seminary training to be a Catholic priest. He later said...

4. Harvey Keitel

Actor | Reservoir Dogs

American actor and producer Harvey Keitel was born on May 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York City, to Miriam (Klein) and Harry Keitel. An Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee, he has appeared in films such as Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), Ridley Scott's The Duellists (...

5. Willem Dafoe

Actor | Spider-Man

Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large ...

6. Norris Mailer

Actress | The Executioner's Song

Norris Mailer was born on January 31, 1949 in Washington, USA. She was an actress, known for The Executioner's Song (1982), Ragtime (1981) and Jet Lag (1981). She was married to Norman Mailer and Larry Norris. She died on November 21, 2010 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.

7. Michael J. Fox

Actor | Back to the Future

Michael J. Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Phyllis Fox (née Piper), a payroll clerk, and William Fox. His parents moved their 10-year-old son, his three sisters, Kelli Fox, Karen, and Jacki, and his brother Steven, to Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

8. Tracy Pollan

Actress | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties (1985-1987). Pollan was born on Long Island, New York, the daughter of Corinne Elaine "Corky" (Staller), a magazine editor, and Stephen Michael Pollan, a financial consultant and writer. ...

9. Susan Sarandon

Actress | Thelma & Louise

It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York for Joe (1970). Chris Sarandon, who ...

10. Jennifer Beals

Actress | Flashdance

Jennifer Beals is an internationally renowned actress who has over 90 credits to her name, including critically acclaimed feature films and some of the highest rated television series to date. Beals is currently executive producing and returning as a lead cast member in the revival of her hit ...

11. Elizabeth Peña

Actress | Rush Hour

As she inherited her love for the arts by her father, well-known playwright, actor, director and novelist Mario Peña, it is not hard to understand that actress Elizabeth Pena already had designs to become an actress by the time she was eight years old.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on September 23, ...

12. John Patrick Shanley

Writer | Moonstruck

John Patrick Shanley was born on October 3, 1950 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Moonstruck (1987), Doubt (2008) and Congo (1995).

13. Joel Coen

Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...

14. Ethan Coen

Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel...

15. Bob Balaban

Actor | Gosford Park

Bob Balaban was born on August 16, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Gosford Park (2001), A Mighty Wind (2003) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). He has been married to Lynn Grossman since April 1, 1977. They have two children.

16. Mary Beth Hurt

Actress | The World According to Garp

Mary Beth Hurt was born on September 26, 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa, USA. She is an actress, known for The World According to Garp (1982), Lady in the Water (2006) and Interiors (1978). She has been married to Paul Schrader since August 6, 1983. They have two children. She was previously married to ...

17. Alexandre Rockwell

Director | Sweet Thing

A skilled and celebrated film maker, Alexandre Rockwell is perhaps best known for his works In the Soup (1992) and 13 Moons (2002). Rockwell's characters are as intricate as they are flawed. He abstains from the shotgun pop of mainstream film and uses classical techniques and sheer creativity to ...

18. Tama Janowitz

Writer | Slaves of New York

Tama Janowitz is known for Slaves of New York (1989), A Fool and His Money (1989) and Otdamsya v khoroshie ruki (2009).

19. Bernadette Peters

Actress | The Jerk

Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and ...

20. Ron Silver

Actor | Timecop

Ron Silver was born on July 2, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Timecop (1994), Reversal of Fortune (1990) and Find Me Guilty (2006). He was married to Lynne Miller. He died on March 15, 2009 in New York City, New York, USA.

21. Adrian Lyne

Director | Jacob's Ladder

Adrian Lyne (Director/Writer/Producer) is the creative force behind some of the most talked-about movies of our time, among them, Fatal Attraction (1987), 9½ Weeks (1986) and Indecent Proposal (1993).

Born in Peterborough, England and raised in London, Lyne attended the Highgate school, where...

22. Elizabeth LeCompte

Actress | Off Limits

Elizabeth LeCompte is known for Off Limits (1988), Why Is It So Dark in Here? (2017) and Now I Feel Like the King (2017).

23. Blythe Danner

Actress | Meet the Parents

Blythe Danner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Katharine (Kile) and Harry Earl Danner, a bank executive. She has German, as well as English and Irish, ancestry. Danner studied acting and got her degree from Bard College and began her career in Boston theater companies. By 25, she won the ...

24. Eric Bogosian

Actor | Talk Radio

Eric Bogosian was born in Boston and grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts. After graduating from Woburn Memorial High School in 1971, he attended the University of Chicago and graduated from Oberlin College in 1976, whereupon he moved to New York City. In New York he was hired by the Kitchen as an ...

25. Norman Jewison

Director | Jesus Christ Superstar

Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known ...

26. Danny Aiello

Actor | Do the Right Thing

Danny Aiello was an American actor of Italian descent, and enjoyed a lengthy career in film. He was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione in the comedy-drama film "Do the Right Thing" (1989).

Aiello was born in Manhattan, New York ...

27. Matt Craven

Actor | Crimson Tide

Canadian-born actor Matt Craven is among the most sought after character actors of film and television today, starring in such blockbuster critically acclaimed films as the Academy-Award-nominated "Crimson Tide" and "A Few Good Men" and SAG Award nominated "X-Men: First Class." Craven has starred ...

28. Pruitt Taylor Vince

Actor | Identity

Pruitt can next be seen starring as a series regular in the Apple TV+ series Lady in the Lake, opposite Natalie Portman. Other television work includes recurring in Netflix's Stranger Things, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., NBC's Heroes Reborn, True Blood, The Walking Dead, The Mentalist, and ...

29. Jason Alexander

Actor | Seinfeld

Jay Scott Greenspan, known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, film director, and television presenter. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series Seinfeld (1989), for which he was nominated for seven consecutive...

30. Patricia Kalember

Actress | Signs

Patricia was raised in Westport, Connecticut and Louisville, Kentucky. Studied acting at Indiana and Temple Universities after being encouraged by her high-school drama teacher. She finished College with a B.A. degree in theater and immediately started acting in major regional and off-Broadway ...

31. Eriq La Salle

Actor | ER

Actor/director/producer Eriq La Salle is best known to worldwide television audiences for his award-winning portrayal of the commanding Dr. Peter Benton on the critically acclaimed and history-making medical drama ER. Educated at Juilliard and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, his credits range from ...

32. Ving Rhames

Actor | Pulp Fiction

Strikingly featured and muscular American actor Ving Rhames was born Irving Rameses Rhames in Harlem, New York, to Reather, a homemaker, and Ernest Rhames, an auto mechanic. A good student, Ving entered the New York High School of Performing Arts, where he discovered his love of acting. He studied ...

33. Brian Tarantina

Actor | Summer of Sam

Brian Tarantina was born on March 27, 1959 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Summer of Sam (1999), Knight and Day (2010) and Jacob's Ladder (1990). He died on November 2, 2019 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

34. Anthony Alessandro

Actor | Jacob's Ladder

Anthony Alessandro is known for Jacob's Ladder (1990), Goodfellas (1990) and Rescue Me (2004).

35. Brent Hinkley

Actor | The Silence of the Lambs

Brent Hinkley was born on April 12, 1962 in East Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Ed Wood (1994) and Falling Down (1993).

36. S. Epatha Merkerson

Actress | Law & Order

A native of Michigan, S. Epatha Merkerson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Wayne State University. In 1978, she moved to New York City to apply her craft on stage. Although best known since 1993 as the smart and shrewd Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the long-running TV crime drama Law &...

37. Kyle Gass

Actor | Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

Kyle Gass was born on July 14, 1960 in Walnut Creek, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006), Elf (2003) and Tenacious D (1997).

38. Lewis Black

Actor | Inside Out

Lewis Black was born on August 30, 1948 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Inside Out (2015), Man of the Year (2006) and Accepted (2006).

39. Perry Lang

Director | An Interview with God

Perry Lang was born on December 24, 1959 in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is a director and actor, known for An Interview with God (2018), Men of War (1994) and Little Vegas (1990). He has been married to Sage Parker since June 15, 1996. They have two children.

40. Macaulay Culkin

Actor | Home Alone

Macaulay Culkin, one of the most famous American child stars, was born on August 26, 1980 in New York City, New York, USA, as the third of seven children of his father Kit Culkin (a former stage and child actor and also Macaulay's former manager) and mother Patricia Brentrup. He is the brother of ...

41. Alan Marshall

Producer | Starship Troopers

Alan Marshall was born in England in 1938. At the age of 24 he entered the British film industry and graduated to the big league in 1975 when he founded a production company with director Alan Parker who he met when both worked at a London advertising agency.

Marshall's first producer credit ...

42. Bruce Joel Rubin

Writer | Ghost

Bruce Joel Rubin was born on March 10, 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Ghost (1990), Deep Impact (1998) and Stuart Little 2 (2002). He has been married to Blanche Rubin since January 29, 1970. They have two children.

43. Maurice Jarre

Composer | Lawrence of Arabia

Unlike many musicians who started to learn music while still in their childhood, Maurice Jarre was already late in his teens when he discovered music and decided to make a career in that field. Against his father's will, he enrolled at Conservatoire de Paris where he studied percussions, ...

44. Jeffrey L. Kimball

Cinematographer | Mission: Impossible II

Jeffrey L. Kimball was born on May 29, 1943 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He is a cinematographer, known for Mission: Impossible II (2000), Paycheck (2003) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

45. Tom Rolf

Editor | WarGames

Tom Rolf was born on December 31, 1931 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was an editor, known for WarGames (1983), The Right Stuff (1983) and Taxi Driver (1976). He died on July 14, 2014 in Saint-Calais, Sarthe, France.